High Spectrum Costs Hinder African Telecom Growth

A new report by the GSMA highlights that high spectrum costs are a major obstacle to telecom investment and digital growth in Africa. The report, titled 'Spectrum Policy in Africa: Enabling Investment and Empowering Consumers Through Effective Spectrum Pricing,' identifies the cost of accessing radio spectrum as a central bottleneck.

African mobile operators pay more for less spectrum compared to global peers, limiting their ability to expand services or enhance quality. According to GSMA Intelligence, spectrum costs consume 0.82% of mobile operators’ revenue per 100 MHz in Africa, compared with 0.66% elsewhere.

African operators hold an average of about 570 MHz of spectrum below 7 GHz, which is 24% less than the global average of approximately 750 MHz. This gap underscores the challenges faced by African telecom providers in accessing sufficient spectrum for growth.